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Like Madonna, socialbookmarking services like Digg and Reddit have been reinventing themselves to stay relevant within social media circles. With over 8.5 million users and 35 million Web pages "stumbled," StumbleUpon has gone one step further than its competitors.

Hablo Espanol? Parlez-vous Francais? Spriten Ze Deutsche? "Gazouiller" and "Cinguettare" translates to "Twitter" in French and Italian. But how do you translate English into other languages on the microblogging site?

It sounded like a good idea. Create a viral buzz campaign built around a contest to rename Kraft's Vegemite's cream cheese spread first launched in 1923. Out of 48,000 Australian entrants, the food company selected the winner who submitted the name "Vegemite iSnack2.0" because of its inference of making something new out of something old. So what went wrong?

To promote a brand in today's Web 2.0 milieu, one no longer needs the excessive advertising and promotional budgets that have been previously required in the past. In today's business climate, its important to select social media tools that are cost-efficient, create evangelists,generate a viral buzz and produce sales. With the recent launch and beta test of Flip.to, brands and social media specialists now have access to a tool that can accomplish all those goals.

Anyone that remembers the classic Seinfeld episode, "Soup Nazi" will be able to relate to the current prohibition of Twitter and Facebook in the workplace. Working 9 to 5, what can an employee do when he or she gets the urge to dip his or her toe in the Twitterstream? Unfortunately, there are too many Social Media Nazis out there throwing the hammer down on this type of activity.

Twitter has conquered a lot of international territory around the world, but tweeting into Space is definitely allowing man to go where no man has gone before. Astronauts Nicole Stoff and Jeff Williams who are currently circumnavigating the globe at five miles a second will attend a Tweetup while in space.

Twitter's landmark case strikes the first blow at
Internet anonymity and identity theft with the issuance of one single
tweet. But where is that 140 character message that was responsible for
breaking new legal ground? Inquiring minds want to know.

On the one hand, social media has connected us with our fellow man (and woman) in a much more upfront and personal way. On the other hand, social media has connected us with our fellow man (and woman) in a much more upfront and personal way!

McDonalds has finally set up shop in the Twitterverse. But is it too late? McDonalds' movies, videos, blogs, social networks and Web sites have been cropping up all over the social media landscape for the last five years. And unfortunately they are not singing the praises of the hamburger joint giant.

In slightly over six years, the members of Second Life have lived out over one billion hours in a virtual world. To give you a sense of the popularity of SL, one billion hours equates to slightly over 115,000 years. With that much time on our hands, you can imagine what kind of trouble we can get ourselves into!

It's a little bit county! It's a little bit rock 'n roll! It's one over-sized network mash-up! Google Wave is part Outlook, IM, calendar, Twitter, wiki, spreadsheets/docs/presentation, picture sharing, social media, forums, maps and just about everything else on the web, but the kitchen sink! It's what some have called "email on steroids."

Web 2.0 has not only ushered in social media, it fostered a movement of consumer-generated content and crowdsourcing. We can believe and trust in things we read and view if its endorsed by one of our friends, business associates or social networks chums. Traditional advertising? ... not so much! Consumer-generated content as a sea-change has gained so much traction that even advertising in a lot of respects is now controlled by the public.

So why are they called "Massive Multiplayer Online" Games, or MMOs for short? Because the popularity of social media gaming has gone through roof and the numbers of players now engaged have skyrocketed into the millions. While many MMOs can be played on stand-alone systems like Play Station, Nintendo and Xbox game players, the latest trend is registering for the online versions of these games on the world's largest social network...Facebook!

Mining social media has been an illusive task. A multitude of analytics are available, but no one comprehensive tool to really cut through the clutter. A new product in development by Microsoft Advertising under the code-name "LookingGlass" may be the help brands are looking for. It claims to monitor and analyze social networks up close and personal.

Ads from advertisers that take advantage of inventors may appear on our pages. We have a difficult time blocking them all. Many of our advertisers provide valuable services. But be careful! Before using any invention service provider, do your research and make sure you are really getting what you need. Start your research by reviewing Invention Cons, Scams and Other Problems .

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